Dialysis is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure. Dialysis may be used for those with an acute disturbance in kidney function or for those with progressive but chronically worsening kidney function (i.e., chronic kidney disease). The kidneys have important roles in maintaining health. When healthy, the kidneys maintain the body's internal equilibrium of water and minerals (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfate, for example). Those acidic metabolism end products that the body cannot get rid of via respiration are also excreted through the kidneys.
Dialysis treatment is often performed multiple times a week and for a number of hours per session. This is currently done on a fixed calendar schedule or according to physician discretion. Such discretion may be driven by symptoms or laboratory results, which require repeat health care visits. Often, such procedures are associated with increased morbidity rates.
If monitoring a patient's physiological conditions outside of a hospital setting, the devices utilized are often painful or uncomfortable for a patient to use and with which take measurements. Such intrusive devices and methods may lead to poor patient compliance. It is often difficult or not practical for a doctor to monitor a patient's health status remotely or to have access to long term measurements of a number of physiological parameters. Additionally, temporal measurements monitored within a patient may be susceptible to chronically changing proportions of fat and fluid that may mask the underlying deterioration in patient health status.